The Origin and History of the Percheron Horse

As with any ancient race, the origin of the Percheron breed is
shrouded in myth, for the foundations of the breed precede extensive
documentation, and certainly pedigrees, by several centuries.

The breed derives its name from the place that served as its cradle.
Le Perche is an old province about 53 by 66 miles located some 50
miles southwest of Paris. It bordered Normandy on the northeast and
the Beauce country, known as the granary of France, on the east. It
is a gently rolling, well-watered and fertile place with a benign
climate, pre-eminently suited to the raising of livestock. It was,
thus, ideally situated to capitalize on trade opportunities as they
arose following the middle ages and well into the modern era.

From the earliest known times the people of Le Perche have been
producers of horses, not often buyers, always free sellers to the
adjacent areas and, ultimately, the world. In the matter of breeding
horses they were a world unto themselves.

Traditionally it has been a race with a preponderance of greys. Old
paintings and crude drawings from the middle ages affirm this. The
French Knight is almost always portrayed on a grey or white charger.
Their mounts are depicted as horses with considerable substance for
that time, but without coarseness.

When the day of the war horse(thanks
to gun powder) was over, this color and that substance with style,
was made to order to provide France with horses to pull heavy stage
coaches.What was needed was a horse that could trot from 7 to 10
miles per hour and the endurance to do it day in and day out. The
light colored greys and whites were preferred because of their
visibility at night. With three turnpikes from Paris to the coastal
ports of Normandy running through Le Perche, the French did not have
to look very far to find the right kind to pull the heavy mail and
passenger coaches for the kings of France. They were called Diligencehorses,
as the stage coaches were called diligences. They were more than a
heavy coach horse with extravagant style, they were more like
drafters. So let's just use the French word and call themDiligence
Horses.

When rail replaced the diligences, other roles called on this equine
race. Cities were growing rapidly and omnibuses were the public
transport of the day. Thousands of omnibus horses were called for in
Paris and other French cities. The job called for a little heavier
horse, the breeders of the Le Perche altered their local breed
enough to do the job. At the same time horses (faster and stronger)
were replacing oxen in agriculture. The nearby Beauce, the granary
of France, needed a bigger horse for agriculture. As trade and
commerce grew, so did the need for horses of heavy draft to move
large loads from docks and railheads. They needed an even larger
horse than did the farmer. Again, the breeders of Le Perche
complied.

From the war horse (heavy saddler) to diligence horse (heavy coacher
or light draft) to the true horse of heavy draft, the breeders of Le
Perche sculpted away on their beloved indigenous breed for hundreds
of years, altering the animal to meet the demands of the times and
to entice the buyer.

Across the sea a confident young republic was experiencing the same
changes from stage coach to rail, from agrarian to industrial and
from sail to steam. The United States was without any breeds of its
own. Its horse stocks had been heavily drawn down by its own Civil
War in the 1860s. The west was being settled, its cities were
growing, and there echoed the same cry for bigger, stronger horses
than heretofore, just as in continental Europe.

The only source of such stock was in western Europe. Americans
became steady visitors and determined buyers of such seed stock. The
initial importation's of French stock were in 1839 and 1851. None of
those first importation's came from La Perche, but rather from
Normandy. Nonetheless, they provided a beginning.

The decades of the 1870s and 80s were years of massive importation's
from Europe. Literally thousands of draft-type horses, especially
stallions, were imported primarily from France and Great Britain. A
battle was on for the hearts and pocketbooks of American importers.

As the trade grew and importers ventured further inland in search of
the best kind, the little old province of Le Perche was discovered.
Or, more to the point, the superiority of its draft horses was
discovered. For France had and still does, several races (breeds) of
draft horses.

The age of purebred livestock had dawned, stud books, herd books,
and flock books were rapidly spawned on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the winter of 1875-76, in Chicago, Illinois, a National
Association of Importers & Breeders of Norman Horseswas
launched. By the time the 2ndvolume
of the stud book was published the name was altered to Percheron-Norman.
In a matter of just a few years the hyphenated version became simply
"Percheron".

The Percheron quickly became America's favorite horse. In the decade
of the 80salmost
5,000 stallions and over 2,500 mares were imported to this country
from France, mostly from Le Perche. The number exceeded
importation's from Great Britain and the rest of continental Europe.

Those heavenly days, leaving millions of dollars in little Le
Perche, lasted until the financial panic of 1893. There were
virtually no importations from 1894-1898. Breeding in this country
came to a standstill. Much of the seed stock from the earlier period
was lost or squandered as people were either broke or too cautious
to spend it if they had it. One of the tens of thousands of
businesses that went bankrupt was the young Association.

The recovery was almost as abrupt as the downslide. Importations
were resumed in 1898, averaging about 700 head a year from that time
to 1905. In 1906, they reached the enormous number of 13,000
stallions and 200 mares. Happy Days were here again, both in places
like Crossroads, USA and Le Perche. Annual registrations reached
10,000 per year by the teens.

In 1902, a new breed association was formed, picking up the records
from the old.

These fortuitous circumstances were rudely interrupted in 1914 by
the outbreak of World War 1. The days of great importations were
over once and for all.

The position and role of the draft horse was being threatened by
trucks in the cities and tractors on the farms. The equine
population of the Unites States crested about 1920. While the draft
horse waged a determined campaign to "keep its job" it was a losing
battle, particularly on the city streets. On the farms, the draft
animal pretty well held its own during the 1920s, but the
decade was a lackluster one for the heavy horse interests. You can't
be loosing a substantial part of your market and be singingHappy
Days are Here Againat
the same time.

The 1930scensus
is a good indication of the affection Americans had for the
Percheron. Over 70% of the purebred draft horses in America were
Percherons. Every major land grant school in America maintained a
stable of Percherons. Much of the farm press was still loyal to the
horse as the most economical source of farm power.

Then came the great depression of the 1930sand
the draft horse made a dramatic comeback. Corn was cheap, farmers
were broke, gasoline wasn't free. Registrations more than doubled in
a few short years. In 1937 they reached 4,611, a figure not seen for
over a decade. Importations of a few quality horses were resumed on
a modest scale. But the tractor had also been improved, put on
rubber, and was selling like hot cakes as the decade closed.

Then came the 1940s and World War2and
an almost complete mobilization of manpower. During that war an
awful lot of the farming got done by old men and their wives, and
high school and younger kids. Gasoline was plentiful. The use of
drafters during the war declined. When the veterans came home they
were, for the most part, mechanically inclined and their fathers
were tired. The greatest liquidation of draft horse stock in history
started and kept right on going clear through the 1950suntil
they were no longer considered worth counting in the official
agricultural census of the United States. It was truly a vestige
that was left as the 1960sdawned.

The low point in Percheron registrations came in 1954 when just 85
head were recorded. The termendangered
specieswas certainly
appropriate though not yet in common use.

It was a relative handful of people, dedicated to the breed,
unconvinced of the wisdom of the course being pursued by
agriculture, and unwilling to relinquish their equine heritage, that
kept the Percheron alive. They were aided in this by the thousands
of Amish farmers throughout the country who stuck with the draft
horse as their source of motive power.

This determination and patience was rewarded. Americans rediscovered
the usefulness of the draft horse. Other Americans discovered the
pleasure of working with them at a non-farm tasks. The shows
welcomed them back. The growing recreation business discovered their
attractiveness at ski lodges, etc. The wood lot owner looked around
for a horse logger that would take out a few trees without ruining
the rest. It became a combination ofnichemarkets.

This resurgence in numbers and values has been nothing short of
amazing. The growth of the breed in the last ten years bears
testimony to that. Registrations totaled 1,088 in 1988, ten years
later that had grown to 2257. Transfers numbered 1794 in 1989 grew
to 3287 in 1998. Perhaps most significantly, members grew from 2155
to 3095. This is not, as was sometimes true in the old days, a case
of a few people importing and recording hundreds of horses. The
ownership of the breed is in many hands for many uses.

And the sculpting goes on. In the 1930s the conventional wisdom was
that the battle to the truck was lost completely and the heavy
tillage on the farms was as good as lost, so a deliberate effort to
downsize the breed was undertaken. Now, the appeal of the big
hitches, has reversed that trend. The present demands reach in
several directions at the same time. The times call for a versatile
horse. At that, the Percheron has had a lot of practice.